How I Became a Christian My Grandmother was born in 1884 in a log cabin in Decatur, Illinois. Shortly after her birth her mother died o...

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Gentle People and Gentle Prayers

Gentle People

One of the
fruits of the Holy Spirit is “gentleness.”Scripture says: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control.”(Galatians 5:22)Other Scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit
gives each follower of Christ these gifts if we are open to receiving
them.It is easy to overlook the value
of being a gentle person in our competitive, dog eat dog world.

But gentleness is an important Christian
virtue and our lives and the lives of those we touch will be changed for the
better if we can learn to be gentle.Our
Lord Jesus Christ is gentle. Jesus said:
“Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and meek and lowly of
heart and you shall find rest for your souls.”(Matthew 11:29)Our heavenly
Father wants us to follow in Christ’s footsteps and be like Him.

Along with
praying “gentle” prayers, God has called us to be “gentle” people. Even though He has given us the gift of
“gentleness” as one of the fruits of the Spirit, many of us have not unwrapped
this “gentleness” gift yet.We do not
live in a gentle world.But we are not
to pattern ourselves after the world. There is much that we can be angry about in
our world and many Christians become angry and critical on a regular basis.

The new
Christians in Paul’s Corinthian church were angry and critical too and that
worried Paul.He so wanted his new Corinthian
converts to follow Christ and be gentle and loving to one another.He felt like a spiritual father to them since
he had brought them to the Lord and he was very upset by their verbal attacks
on one another.

Let’s listen
to what Paul writes to these new Christians concerning their biting attacks on
one another: “You, my brothers and sisters were called to be free in
Christ.But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature.Rather, serve
one another in love.The entire law is
summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’But if you keep on biting and devouring each
other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”(Galatians 5:13-15) Another Scripture says:
“Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil
talk and their lips from deceitful speech.”(1 Peter 3:30)There are
warnings in God’s Word about how destructive it can be to have a critical judgmental
spirit.

How many best
of friends have been separated by sharp words and how many good families have
been torn and broken apart by critical and unkind judgments from loved ones?How many hurt and lonely people are out there
alone now because of biting judgmental criticisms?When we are not gentle and loving with one
another so much misery can follow.

God calls us
to love one another, pray for one another and be gentle with one another.And to forgive and extend grace to one
another. With God’s help we can do
it.Let’s commit our minds and our
tongues to Christ and ask Him to help us control what we think and say.And we can ask God to give us compassion for
one another and a desire to encourage others through our words instead of tearing
one another down.God is calling us to
be loving gentle people.Let’s answer
His call.

Gentle Prayers

We have been
studying prayer practices or different ways to pray.One prayer practice that may encourage us to
practice gentleness is the practice of Centering Prayer.Centering prayer is based on releasing whatever
thoughts enter your mind and to listen for anything that God is saying to you.The goal is to spend time in un-worded stillness
and openness with God.To set aside your
thoughts and just be present to God. It is your intent to be open to God that
makes this prayer sacred. This prayer can be traced back to the fourth-century
desert fathers and mothers.By medieval
times centering prayer was practiced quite a bit in the monasteries of
Europe.

There are
several guidelines that are helpful in practicing Centering Prayer.First select a word that connects you to God
in love or a word that helps you return to your intention of being open to God
when your mind begins to stray.Perhaps
words like “Abba” or “Father” or “Jesus”.Allow this word to be your “prayer word”.Then as you begin a time of Centering Prayer,
offer a brief prayer asking God for help and speak of your intention to be
present to God.Next turn your heart
toward God.Simply keep your mind open
to God. And if or when you begin thinking of something – no matter what it may
be – gently say your prayer word once as a way of releasing whatever slipped
into your mind and then return to being with God in silence.

Most
teachers of centering prayer suggest sessions of twenty minutes but there are
no rules.The goal is to gently sink
into God’s loving presence by surrendering and emptying yourself.Accept silence as a form of communication
with God.Learn true spiritual rest.Do not have any expectations when you
practice Centering Prayer.Do not ask
what you are getting out of it.This
isn’t a self-improvement project. The goal is to spend time with God and make
yourself available to God.We don’t have
to feel it but we do have to practice it.We are to walk in faith without seeing.Contemplative prayer –or Centering Prayer- requires a gentle trust that
the Spirit is guiding the process.

I find that
I can practice centering prayer in a Taize’ worship service. The main purpose
of the Taize’ worship service is to make it easy for the worshipper to be quiet
and open himself or herself to God in silence.The Taize’ service is a very simple worship service with no long sermons
or announcements or special music productions or applause. An offering is not
taken and there are no attendance record keeping or busy work to take the focus
off of worship. Taize’ services are
often held in the quiet of the early morning or in the evening and the church
sanctuary is most often lighted by candlelight.The worshiper is there to worship God and listen for His voice with no
other distractions.Communion is often
celebrated. Simple Scriptures are sung or chanted and played and repeated over
and over very slowly by several musicians or cantors, while the worshiper can
sing along or sit or kneel and silently pray or meditate on the Scripture songs.

Another
gentle prayer tradition is that of walking the Labyrinth.If you find a church that has a Labyrinth do
try to prayerfully walk it.I have never
walked a Labyrinth that I haven’t felt God’s presence in a special way.All of the paths eventually lead you to the
center.The Labyrinth is a model or
metaphor for life.The Christian life is
a journey or pilgrimage with God. We do not know where the path will take
us.We meet others along the way. The
twists and turns of the Labyrinth mirror our personal spiritual walk. But
eventually all of the winding paths lead to the Center.

You can ask
God a question as you begin your Labyrinth walk and listen for an answer.Or you can pray for yourself on the way
in.Experience God’s love when you reach
the center.And pray for others on the
way out.There are many ways to walk the
Labyrinth but the main thing is to be aware of God’s Presence with you.Our lives are often so busy that we need to
stop and spend some time with God.And I
suggest that you try out some of these “gentle” prayer traditions.

Some of the
ideas in this blog were taken from David G. Benner’s book, “Opening to God” and
Billy Graham’s answer in the newspaper (May 1, 2015) to a woman who ask if she
could do anything about her habit of hurting other people with her
criticisms.